The Fourth Financial Crisis

After a long silence, Qu Jing slowly spoke: "Our relationship with Haiyuan Island has never been good, so we are not sure why they are suddenly willing to reconcile with us, but we speculate that this should be some special method used by the Shenhuo Sect. To force Haiyuan Island to submit, just like how the Shenhuo Sect borrowed the power of the Haiya Chamber of Commerce to put pressure on us..."

Having said that, looking at Qu Jing's hesitant expression, he clearly had some guesses that he was too embarrassed to express. Yang Lu did not let him go and immediately asked, "Have you already made any guesses?"

Qu Jing hesitated for a moment, and finally chose to confess: "We suspect that this time it is not Haiyuan Island who wants to take the initiative to negotiate with us, but Arctic Han Palace putting pressure on them behind the scenes, forcing them to talk to us."

"Can the Arctic Cold Palace affect Haiyuan Island's attitude?"

"After all, Arctic Cold Palace is the strongest cultivation force in Arctic State, and Haiyuan Island is already relatively close to Arctic Cold Palace... Furthermore, no one has heard of any special relationship between Shenhuo Sect and Haiyuan Island before. This time, Li Feiyu, the representative sent by Tian Daxiao to coordinate the negotiations in the Arctic State, stayed in the Arctic Cold Palace longer than he stayed on Haiyuan Island. Thinking about it, Tian Beixi, Tian Daxiao's direct disciple, was also Yin Huaiyuan's name. disciple……"

"Are you suspecting that Arctic Cold Palace has already colluded with the Shenhuo Sect?"

Qu Jing said seriously: "That's right! Not only that, some of the senior leaders of our Hanguang Sword Sect have even speculated that the Arctic Cold Palace may have been secretly controlled by the Shenhuo Sect through some means! Over the years, Yin Huaiyuan has always If you choose to retreat and not come out, maybe Tian Daxiao is behind it!"

Yang Lu was also shocked when he heard Qu Jing's bold guess.

You must know that Arctic Cold Palace is known as the eighth sect in Kyushu. There are more than 60 golden elixir stage elders and an ancestor of the sixth level of Nascent Soul in the sect. On paper, the combat power is 30 to 40% of the seven major sects in Kyushu, and even It was stronger than the second-ranked Liuyun Sect and the third-ranked Yuejianshan in Arctic State combined.

It is also recognized as the uncrowned king of the Arctic state!

If the Shenhuo Sect secretly controls the Arctic Han Palace, it will definitely profoundly affect the political structure of the entire Kyushu cultivation world!

Therefore, Yang Lu said in disbelief: "But how did Tian Daxiao control the Arctic Cold Palace? It is said that Yin Huaiyuan of the Arctic Cold Palace was a tycoon, and could even compete with the heads of the seven major sects in Kyushu. How could he be willing to be Tian Daxiao controls?"

Qu Jing looked strange and said: "I didn't really believe this statement before, but do you know why Tian Daxiao insists on brokering a trade agreement between our Light Sword Sect and Haiyuan Island this time?"

Yang Lu shook his head and said he didn't know.

So Qu Jing continued: "Actually, this trade agreement was not signed by the two of us. The Shenhuo Sect participated as a third party in the agreement. The real purpose of the Shenhuo Sect was to establish the so-called "Northeast Ocean Free Trade Zone." Achieve complete free trade between Arctic State and Huoyun State. Not only that, this trade agreement also requires Arctic State to implement the same economic policies as Huoyun State, and the cultivation sects of the two states are not allowed to interfere with free trade and capital flows between the two states. any form of regulation, and Arctic Hanggong and Yuejianshan have made it clear early on that they are willing to join this trade agreement..."

After listening to Qu Jing's introduction, Yang Lu called him a good guy.

This thing is simply a stitching monster between NAFTA and the EU!

Because Haiya City itself is one of the trade centers in the Jiuzhou cultivation world, although Yang Lu rarely interacts with Arctic State merchants, he also knows that Arctic State trade is the most important component of Eastern Ocean trade, not even one!

As we all know, the Arctic State is vast and sparsely populated, and its total population may only be one-tenth of that of other continents. However, the number of high-level monks in the Arctic State is almost only slightly lower than that of the southern continents. There are four Nascent Soul stage monks alone. People, the most important reason behind this is that Arctic State has the richest cultivation resources in Kyushu.

It is precisely because the Arctic State is rich in all kinds of cultivation resources and at the same time extremely short of living supplies. The entire Arctic State continent is very dependent on foreign trade. It needs to export a large amount of cultivation resources every year, and at the same time import a large amount of food, textiles and other mundane bulk commodities. Foreign trade The amount is even larger than that of Zhongzhou, accounting for 40% of the total trade volume of the Eastern Ocean.

It is said that two thousand years ago, Kyushu's ocean trade was not as developed as it is today. It was difficult for major chambers of commerce to transport sufficient quantities of living materials to the Arctic State. Without large-scale trade as a supplement, even if the Arctic State had more cultivation resources, imports Without enough food and firewood, the mortal population will never grow.

Therefore, the population of the Arctic states two thousand years ago was only one-fifth of what it is today.

The lack of a sufficient mortal population means that this continent cannot provide enough heavenly virtues and cultivation seedlings. Even if it has more precious ores and medicinal materials, the cultivation forces taking root in the Arctic state cannot develop.

Therefore, the six extreme northern sects back then were far from as powerful as they are today. Not to mention the ancestors of the Nascent Soul stage, there were not even a few masters of the Golden Core stage in the entire Arctic state. They were all from the seven major sects. The situation of overseas colonies and puppets is very similar to the current cultivation world of Antarctica with two or three big cats and kittens.

Perhaps because the population of the ancient Arctic State was too sparse, the Arctic State and the Antarctic State have become the only two continents in the Kyushu cultivation world that are not protected by ancient magic barriers. It seems that even the immortals in ancient times believed that this This extremely cold area is a barren land with little development value.

However, the rapid development of ocean trade in the Kyushu cultivation world has completely changed the fate of the Arctic state.

In particular, Dongfang Jiu, the 22nd generation leader of the Infinite Sword Sect with superb mathematical attainments, creatively developed the astronomical navigation fairy formation that uses the starry sky for positioning, so that mortal fleets no longer need cultivators to personally control the escape light as a After a pilot can directly cross the vast Eastern Ocean, the cost of navigation in the Kyushu cultivation world has been greatly reduced.

Low shipping costs have not only led to a surge in maritime trade in the cultivation world, but also made selling cultivation resources in exchange for living supplies a profitable business in the Arctic State. A large number of thousand-ton ocean-going sailing ships are loaded with various civilian immortal formations. , food from adjacent continents can be continuously transported to the Arctic state.

The import of a large amount of overseas living materials has allowed the population growth of the Arctic State to far exceed the natural limit. The cultivators in the Arctic State have gained valuable population and merit, while the cultivators from other states have also obtained the rich cultivation resources of the Arctic State. It can be said that the Arctic State Trade revitalized the economy of the entire Eastern Ocean, allowing all parties to the transaction to get what they needed.

Due to cost considerations, most living materials exported to the Arctic State will be shipped from the ports of Beimo State, Huoyun State, and northern Zhongzhou. However, Haiya City is located on the southeast coast of Zhongzhou, and is not actually close to the Arctic State. , so there are not many ocean-going merchant ships that send living supplies directly from Haiya City to the Arctic State.

This is why Yang Lu rarely interacts with businessmen in Arctic State.

But even so, when the Arctic State is in short supply of food, the food exported by Luoxia City will be shipped directly from Haiya City to the Arctic State. This shows how huge the cargo volume of the Arctic State route is.